Suicide Machines cause bodies to fly

Blood, sweat and flying bodies are a given when the Suicide Machines come to town. But when they came to play the Emerson Theater in Indianapolis Saturday, perhaps the band didn't expect the bodies to be flying at them.\nPeople could be seen floating on the raised hands of the crowd all night. Yet just three songs into their energetic ska-core set, Dan Lukacinsky, the guitarist, almost became a casualty of a stray crowd surfer. Luckily, he only suffered a mic stand to the head, and the show continued on, even as a stream of blood poured down from Lukacinsky's eye.\nTo those people accustomed to artists canceling shows for such minor inconveniences like the flu, this might appear a heroic and mighty deed. For the Suicide Machines, it was just par for the course.\nPlaying at central Indiana's self-proclaimed "largest, all original, all-ages music venue" is definitely a highlight for this Detroit-based punk band and for the crowd that caught its incredible live show. In a venue with no place to hide and a stage with no barricade, the setting is no less than intimate.\n"This is my favorite place to play in Indy," vocalist Jason Navarro said.\nLike previous Suicide Machines tours, the band was supported by a very eclectic set of opening acts. "Very Metal" and "Ensign" brought perhaps an unhealthy amount of old-school grind metal to the show. But New Jersey-based "Bigwig" threatened to steal the show. Before their set, they were an unknown punk band, but two minutes into their set they had the entire place jumping off the walls.\nNo band in attendance could top the Suicide Machines as they had more than 500 sweat-drenched bodies jumping up in down in unison, singing every word. The constant threat of kicking crowd surfers and a non-stop circular mosh pit only made the crowd more enthused as they were encouraged to get up on stage and sing along. \nThe Emerson was a great venue for this kind of show because it attracts a wide variety of people. Even if people hadn't memorized all the songs, they could still have an enjoyable time.\nThe Suicide Machines are touring in support of their fourth release on Hollywood Records, Steal this Record. A record that sounds more like New York City hardcore than the classic punk and ska mix that the band's fan base was built on.\nThe band openly embraces change and shuns classification and this may stem from constantly being misunderstood. The band name does not conjure up images of puppy dogs playing in grassy fields, but for a band with a message from the hometown of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, it has a more tongue-in-cheek significance. \nThe punk community, which is largely devoted to independence, has criticized the band for signing with a major label owned by the ultimate purveyor of misguided American values, the Disney Corporation.\nThese are all common misconceptions, and the Suicide Machines are always redeemed through their consistently amazing live shows in which energy and melody unite to move everyone in attendance. This is what the band lives for, and even after 10 years on the road, they would never consider quitting.\n"I just love playing music; for us it is just a way of life," Navarro said.\nSo the next time you see Michael Eisner in the pit after stagediving to his favorite Suicide Machines song, you won't have to tell him that this band still has the punk rock vision.